In case you have a WooCommerce retailer that ships bodily merchandise, you want an answer for WooCommerce cargo monitoring.
Offering monitoring particulars to your prospects helps them perceive the place their packages are and once they can anticipate them. And in your finish, organizing the monitoring particulars on your shipments helps you’re employed extra successfully and effectively.
In our hands-on Superior Cargo Monitoring (AST) evaluate, we’re going to check out the preferred resolution for WooCommerce cargo monitoring.
Superior Cargo Monitoring is available in each a free model and a paid model, so it may be an amazing choice it doesn’t matter what your price range is.
Let’s dig in…
Superior Cargo Monitoring Assessment: What Does It Do?
At a excessive stage, the important thing worth proposition of Superior Cargo Monitoring (AST) is that it helps enhance the WooCommerce order achievement course of for each prospects and retailer admins.
Clients can extra simply see the place their orders are and once they can anticipate them to reach, which affords them a greater buying expertise.
For retailer admins, you’ll be able to extra simply handle and examine the achievement standing of every order, which helps you optimize your workflows and present higher customer support in much less time. Clients may also be much less more likely to attain out to assist as a result of they’ve extra particulars about their orders’ statuses.
Let’s take a deeper look…
Handle Cargo Particulars (Retailer Admin)
So as to add monitoring info to orders (or particular person gadgets) as a retailer admin, AST provides you a couple of totally different choices.
First, you’ll be able to simply add monitoring numbers manually, which may be all you want for low-volume shops.
AST helps 300+ totally different delivery suppliers and you’ll simply allow/disable them as wanted. You may as well add customized delivery suppliers, within the uncommon case that your delivery supplier isn’t already lined.
Then, you’ll be capable to add monitoring numbers proper from the order dashboard:
With the Professional model, you don’t even must manually select the delivery supplier. You possibly can simply add the monitoring code and the plugin will routinely detect the provider.
Second, you should utilize a CSV import, which helps you to bulk import monitoring info for orders:
Lastly, for those who’re utilizing a third-party achievement service, it’s also possible to reap the benefits of direct integrations with 25+ order achievement companies together with the next:
- WooCommerce Transport
- ShipStation
- Stamps.com
For instance, if you fulfill an order utilizing ShipStation, the mixing routinely provides that monitoring quantity to the related WooCommerce order and updates its standing.
Talking of order standing, AST additionally enables you to combine monitoring info with the WooCommerce order standing system.
For instance, you’ll be able to routinely mark an order as shipped if you add monitoring info to it. This helps you’re employed extra effectively – listed here are some examples of how this improves on the native WooCommerce system:
Listed below are another notable options on the admin facet of issues:
- Entry a devoted achievement dashboard to see the standing of all of your orders.
- Add monitoring numbers to total orders or simply to particular person gadgets (in case you must ship an order in a number of shipments).
- Export monitoring info to PayPal utilizing the PayPal Monitoring API.
- AST provides a Cargo Monitoring API endpoint to the WooCommerce REST API which lets you add monitoring and fulfill orders from exterior companies.
Present Cargo Monitoring Particulars to Clients
With AST, your prospects will be capable to entry monitoring info in a couple of totally different spots.
First, you’ll be able to connect the monitoring particulars to a number of electronic mail confirmations that you simply ship to prospects. The plugin additionally comes with its personal electronic mail templates for delivery confirmations you can customise utilizing the native WordPress Customizer:
Second, you get an in-dashboard monitoring information widget that can show on the “View Order” web page within the consumer’s account space.
As with the emails, you’re in a position to customise this monitoring widget utilizing the real-time WordPress Customizer.
Use the TrackShip Integration for Actual-Time Updates + Extra
If you wish to supply extra real-time monitoring info, the Superior Cargo Monitoring plugin additionally integrates with the separate TrackShip service, which comes from the identical developer because the plugin.
TrackShip affords a extra automated monitoring expertise for each prospects and retailer admins.
You possibly can create a customized white-labeled web page that routinely exhibits the newest monitoring info to prospects. That’s, as an alternative of simply exhibiting a button to view monitoring particulars on the delivery service’s web site, you’ll be able to really show the detailed monitoring info on a white-labeled web page by yourself web site.
Past that, it’s also possible to supply real-time cargo notifications through electronic mail and/or SMS.
For instance, you would ship an electronic mail or textual content message when the package deal is out for supply, together with different touchpoints within the delivery course of.
As a retailer admin, TrackShip additionally provides you a unified dashboard the place you’ll be able to see all your packages’ particulars in real-time, which helps you keep on prime of achievement and extra effectively present buyer assist.
You additionally get analytics to trace delivery and supply efficiency throughout your retailer.
Once more, TrackShip is technically a separate service, however it comes from the identical developer and integrates tightly with the plugin.
Easy methods to Set Up WooCommerce Cargo Monitoring With AST
Now that you recognize what the plugin does, let’s take a fast have a look at what it’s prefer to arrange and use AST.
1. Configure Common Settings
As soon as you put in and activate the plugin, you’ll be able to head to WooCommerce → Cargo Monitoring to arrange the entire performance.
In the primary Settings tab, you’ll be able to configure some fundamentals concerning the plugin, primarily to do with tips on how to handle order statuses primarily based on achievement particulars. For instance, whether or not to routinely mark an order as shipped if you add monitoring info:
2. Select Transport Suppliers
Subsequent, you’ll be able to select which delivery suppliers you need to allow on your retailer.
Once more, AST helps over 300+ totally different choices, together with each the large names (UPS, DHL, FedEx, USPS, and many others.) in addition to many smaller native carriers for nations all all over the world:
That will help you discover the proper ones, you should utilize the search field. For instance, if I seek for “Vietnam”, I can see the entire native carriers in Vietnam:
As somebody who lives in Vietnam, I can say that these choices cowl a lot of the well-liked suppliers, so AST has fairly good protection even in a spot like Vietnam.
3. Set Up Integrations (Optionally available)
If you wish to arrange the automated integration together with your achievement service (e.g. WooCommerce Transport, ShipStation, and many others.), you are able to do that from the Integrations tab:
For the entire integrations that I checked, the setup is so simple as turning the toggle on. You possibly can see the documentation for the entire supported suppliers right here.
If you wish to use the TrackShip service, you’ll be able to set that up from the devoted TrackShip tab.
4. Begin Utilizing the Plugin
At this level, you’re just about performed and also you’re prepared to begin utilizing the plugin.
The way you add monitoring info will rely in your preferences. Once more, you’ve gotten the next choices:
- Manually add monitoring particulars through the order dashboard.
- Bulk import monitoring particulars utilizing a CSV.
- Arrange one of many direct integrations to routinely import monitoring particulars out of your achievement service.
Superior Cargo Monitoring Pricing
The Superior Cargo Monitoring plugin is available in each a free model and a premium model.
If you wish to use the TrackShip integration, that’s additionally a separate service that you simply would possibly must pay for.
Let’s speak concerning the plugin pricing first, although.
Generally, the free model is fairly succesful and already enables you to add monitoring info to orders from 300+ suppliers and show monitoring information along with a hyperlink to trace the order on the provider web sites (and within the WooCommerce view order web page).
The premium model of the plugin then provides another helpful options together with the next:
- An admin achievement dashboard to handle all orders from one spot.
- Possibility to separate orders so as to add monitoring particulars to particular person gadgets (as an alternative of 1 monitoring quantity for the complete order).
- Integrations with companies resembling WooCommerce Transport, ShipStation, and extra. This is among the most helpful premium options when it comes to saving time.
- Customized delivery suppliers, supplier auto-detection, and supplier white-labeling.
- …a lot extra.
Right here’s a full comparability of AST Free, AST Professional, and WooCommerce Cargo Monitoring:
Characteristic | AST Free | AST Professional | WC Cargo Monitoring |
---|---|---|---|
Add monitoring & Fulfill orders | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Add monitoring to order Merchandise/s | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Bulk import monitoring from CSV | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Rename Accomplished standing to Shipped | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Customized order standing (Partially Shipped/Delivered) | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Customized order standing (Shipped) | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
550+ Transport suppliers & carriers | ✅ | ✅ | Solely 50 suppliers |
Sync delivery suppliers | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Customized delivery suppliers | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ (manually) |
White Label delivery suppliers | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Auto-Detect delivery suppliers | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
30+ built-in Integrations | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Monitoring information widget | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Customise emails and monitoring widget | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Customized electronic mail templates | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
PayPal monitoring integration | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
TrackShip integration | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Achievement dashboard | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Cargo monitoring API endpoints | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Transport supplier’s API title mapping | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
AutoComplete API orders | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
24/7 E mail Help | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
In order for you the premium model, there are three full-featured plans with totally different web site activation limits:
- One web site – $129
- 5 websites – $249
- Ten websites – $399
All plans include one 12 months of assist and updates together with a 14-day money-back assure.
TrackShip Pricing
If you wish to use the TrackShip integration for real-time notifications and monitoring pages, you then would possibly must pay for TrackShip as nicely.
TrackShip has a free plan that helps core options and as much as 50 shipments per 30 days, which could work for low-volume shops. Yow will discover the free model of the plugin on the WordPress repository.
After that, paid plans begin at $11 per 30 days for all options and as much as 100 shipments per 30 days. Plans go up from there primarily based on the variety of month-to-month shipments on your retailer. For instance, for 1,000 shipments per 30 days, you’d pay $59 per 30 days.
It additionally affords yearly plans at a cheaper price than month-to-month. The advantage of yearly plans is that if you subscribe, you’re going to get all of the steadiness for that 12 months added to your account, so you should utilize it all through that one 12 months interval, which is nice for seasonal companies.
Last Ideas on Superior Cargo Monitoring
If in case you have a WooCommerce retailer that sells bodily merchandise, I believe you want some sort of WooCommerce cargo monitoring resolution to assist prospects hold monitor of the place their orders are.
Superior Cargo Monitoring is the preferred WooCommerce cargo monitoring plugin at WordPress.org for an excellent cause – it provides you a number of options to maintain monitor of orders and enhance your achievement course of on the whole.
Clients will be capable to see monitoring info and know when to anticipate their orders. They’ll entry monitoring particulars out of your web site in addition to through emails.
As a retailer admin, it’s also possible to see the place every package deal is, which helps together with your admin and allows you to present extra environment friendly buyer assist. You additionally get a number of integrations and instruments that can assist you save time when including monitoring numbers to orders.
In order for you extra real-time notifications and automation, it’s also possible to add within the TrackShip service. I believe its real-time notification characteristic is nice on your prospects and the analytics and different admin-focused options are additionally helpful for bettering your achievement processes.
If you wish to check it out, you’ll be able to attempt the free model at WordPress.org (in addition to the free TrackShip plan if wanted). Then, think about upgrading to AST Professional to entry extra superior options.